Read Anuj's blog

I was born in New Delhi, India, on December 24, 1974. I did my schooling at Cambridge School (Srinivaspuri), where I developed into a voracious reader. One day I came across "Einstein's Universe" by Nigel Calder and I was hooked. Other popular science authors like Martin Gardner and P. C. W. Davies only increased my appetite for physics. If any of these authors see this, please contact me!

I did my undergraduate studies in physics at Delhi University followed by my master's at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). At IISc I developed a taste for the outdoors: hiking and adventure sports (parasailing and whitewater rafting). In 1998, I came to the US and joined SUNY at Stony Brook for my doctorate. There I took up competitive ballroom dancing. Although I won a few prizes here and there, I found that I couldn't really compete against the 16-year-old Russians. So I retired from competition. However, I continue to dance socially and my favorites are Argentine Tango, Waltz, Swing and Rumba. Of course, life wasn't all song and dance! I was also working towards my PhD on experiments at RHIC, the atom smasher, where we were trying to recreate the conditions that existed in the universe just after the Big Bang. In between I also got married to Anita Patel and here is the Web site I dedicated to her.

Last year after finishing my PhD I moved to Santa Fe, a pretty town nestled in the mountains of northern New Mexico. When I am not doing physics, I am either outdoors or reading. My favorite book is George Orwell's "Keep The Aspidistra Flying" (never heard of it,have you? :-). I also like to write and have published some short stories. At one time I wanted to be a writer, but soon realized that although a physicist can be writer, it's converse is not so easy!

2005 promises to be another blockbuster year for RHIC physics. There are interesting results brewing up which might shed some light on whether or not the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) was produced at RHIC.